Before we end today's show, we want to thank our administrative assistant, Dorothy therapy, who has retired. Part of her job was to respond to calls and emails from listeners, so it's possible you communicated with her. She's been with us since 1990, so saying goodbye isn't easy. We remember when she used to bring her little son to work.
We watched him grow up, now both of Dorothy's children have children of their own, and they all feel like part of the fresh air family. Dorothy has a big heart and a generous spirit and a fondness for other people's idiosyncrasies. She also has an admirable distrust of everything phony or pretentious. Dorothy and our director, Roberta Sherock, shared a cubicle for 26 years.
Roberta will especially miss her, and the way Dorothy would let us know about ridiculous things on TV and the internet. Dorothy and Roberta had a favorite movie clip, which they played over and over, and it always made them laugh, us too. Roberta still has that clip, Unreal to Real Tape, left over from our 1987 interview with Robert Townsend after he directed the film Hollywood Shuffle, a comedy about the black stereotypes perpetuated by Hollywood. I will now play for you that 30-year-old piece of tape.
This is an audition scene from Hollywood Shuffle. Anyway, after getting my degree from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, I decided to come to Hollywood and do some movies. Good. Why don't you start with the Christmas page?
That's very interesting. Sure. Okay. Let me see.
I ain't afraid of you. What is happening with your cool vines? Thank you. Thank you very much.
You're the worst actor I've ever seen in my life. I have to be frank with you. You have to. I have it.
You be missing with your own dude, bro. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.
I ain't even got no wedding. That never gets old. It wasn't part of Dorothy's job description to generate story ideas, but over the years, she generated some great ones. She didn't write on-air copy, but she wrote the 2003 book, How to Create Your Own African American Library.
Dorothy wasn't an on-air person, but there was the time we convinced her to sing on the air. It was after an interview with the author of a book about bananas. Let me play that back for you. Dan Kapel is the author of the new book, Banana, the fate of the fruit that changed the world.
I have to say, I liked his rendition of the Jiquita Bananas song. And after the interview was over, Dorothy Fairby, who's our administrative assistant, stopped in the studio and she told me she remembered a different version of the song. So I asked Dorothy if she would sing it for you. So Dorothy, do you want to do it?
I'm Jiquita Bananas and I'm here to say, bananas give you energy for work and play and the calorie count. I'm happy to say, in the medium bananas only 88. Alright, I guess this is when they're diet conscious campaign. Thank you for doing that.
You're welcome. So Dorothy's probably going to hate us for playing that. I hope that won't stop her from coming back and visiting. And I hope she comes back soon.
Fresh Air's Executive Producer is Janine Miller. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Emi Salad, Ms. Myers, Anne Reebold and Otto, Sam Brigger, Lauren Krenzel, John Sheehan, Heidi Samon, Theresa Madden, and Thea Chaloner. I'm Kari Gross.